Previously in The Bible's Big Story, we have witnessed Creation, the Fall, and the Covenant Promises - to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, and to Moses. God fulfilled his promises by bringing Israel out of Egyptian slavery and into the Promised Land, making them a great nation.

Even though Israel had become the great nation that God promised, the people were quick to turn their backs on God. The Book of Judges shows a vicious cycle--the people forget about God, they face disaster as a result, they cry out to God for help, God raises up a leader through which he rescues them, and then the cycle repeats!

Perhaps a king will help? But, no--even the wise Solomon forgets the God that gave him wisdom. The kingdom becomes fractured in two. King after king fails to do what is right in God's sight. Despite a few moments when it seems the people might listen to the warnings of the prophets, the people once again find themselves slaves in a foreign land, as both kingdoms fall.

The people misinterpret their defeat as God's defeat and wonder: has God finally given up on them? Is his plan ruined? Is all lost?

This week, the story continues! God works through the descendants of Abraham to call them out of slavery and establish them in the promised land. God takes this people and shaped them to be his own.